As I’ve mentioned here previously, I’ve been going through some health issues the past couple of weeks. Recently I was told that I should get a pair of compression socks. “They’ll help circulation in your legs,” I was told. “Also, it will help prevent the build-up of fluid in your legs. Walgreens has them.” The great thing about living where I live is that all I have to do is walk across Madison to get to Walgreens.
So yesterday I walked over to Walgreens shortly after they opened. I figured the compression socks would be in the foot care section, but no. I had to walk all over the store before I found them. They were on a narrow rack, and the ones at eye level all said, “Women’s compression socks color: nude.” No, that is not what I wanted. Finally as I looked toward the lower right of the rack, I saw a pair that was for men, black in color. I took them to the cashier along with some groceries and paid.
I got home and removed all the cardboard wrapping, and once it was off, I realized something – rather than compression socks, I had bought compression tights. Tights designed to fit from your waist all the way down to the bottoms of your feet. Well I hadn’t meant to buy those, but the packing materials were already off and I’d paid $21 for these things. Might as well make the best of it, I thought, even though I had never worn tights before in my life.
I sat down on the edge of my bed and attempted to put the tights on. I quickly learned why they call them tights! It was torture trying to get my feet through those tiny little legs. The legs kept getting caught on my big toe, or my little toe, and I had to pull the legs this way and that to get them unstuck. It took me 20 minutes to get them entirely on.
They were so tight they hurt, but I had been told they were therapeutic. I remember Serena Williams had been prescribed to wear compression tights to deal with postpartum maladies, but a tennis tournament (French Open I think?) ruled they were a violation of the dress code. If they were good enough for Serena, I reasoned, they were good enough for me.
They were fine when I sat in my desk chair in front of my computer, but when I stretched my legs or got up and walked around, they hurt. My calves and thighs were fine, but around my ankles, where the tights have to bend, the elasticity of the tights was extremely uncomfortable. I dealt with the discomfort, though, knowing it was good for me.
After the 10:00 news and a couple of cop shows it was time to go to bed.
12:56 AM: Got in bed
3:08 AM: Still trying to ignore how uncomfortable these stupid tights are and get to sleep
6:10 AM: Woke up feeling like there were super-tight rubber bands around my ankles and around the tops of my feet. I knew there was no way I would be able to get back to sleep with my feet in such pain. At that point, I got out from underneath the covers and pulled off the tights. Thank goodness I got them off in less than 1 minute. I was afraid it would take as long to get them off as it did to put them on.
The tights did perform as advertised. It seems like I can move around better today than I have the past few days, and my calves seem considerably less tight than they have recently. They are just such a total pain to put on and to have on. Do women have this much trouble getting leggings on? I think women’s leggings are usually 50% elastic stuff and 50% material with some give. These compression tights are all elastic stuff. I might give them a second chance today or tomorrow, but I am absolutely not wearing them to bed.
And before you ask – Rahul & Tony – no I did not take a picture of my butt in the tights, and even if I did I would not be sending it to you.
Okay – here’s what’s going on with the health issue I’m having. I’m not going to go into great detail but these are the points that have been affecting my lifestyle. I first noticed it the evening of Thursday, October 18. In the morning and early afternoon I walked all over Downtown and felt great. I walked over to Calvary to early vote; I walked up and down the Main Street Mall; I walked to Court Square to get lunch from a food truck. However, that evening, as I walked home from the Blind Bear, I got winded on the last block of my 3-block walk home.
Since then I have observed the following:
- When I walk more than about two blocks, I tend to get winded and tired out.
- When I drink more than a drink or two, I tend to get winded and tired out. For example, one day last week I went to happy hour at the Silly Goose. I was there from 2:00 to 6:30 and had 4 PBRs. Since the body processes a drink an hour on average, I should have been fine; yet I felt weak by the end of that fourth beer.
- When feeling weak, winded, and tired out, I have trouble navigating up stairs and curbs.
Of course, this presents an issue, since two of my favorite spots in the Downtown core are farther than a two-block walk away: Blind Bear (which has three steps at the door) and Silly Goose. As a result, I have drastically cut back my going-out since last Thursday. It has been a change and I miss my friends at those places terribly.
On the other hand, the time away has made me re-discover how much I like being home by myself. I have been watching shows on Antenna TV and MeTV that I watched when I was a kid – Welcome Back Kotter, Benson, MASH, The Jeffersons, Three’s Company, Alice, Love Boat. Criminal Minds is one of my favorites and Ion shows it in marathons, but it’s hard to tune the rabbit ears to pick up channel 50. I’ve also been buying and reading Kindle books. About done with the current one, so if anyone has suggestions let me know. I prefer to tend nonfiction over fiction and I especially like biographies and books about history.
Thank goodness everything I need is close. I can walk to Walgreens. I can walk to my bank. I can walk to the garage and get in my car and drive to Kroger. I can walk to Maciel’s, City Market, Court House Deli, Sam’s, Havana’s Pilon, and Brass Door if I get hungry and don’t want to heat up something at home. My visits to Bardog remain unaffected, although I am cutting back on the beer there a good bit.
I do plan to get back out as the week goes on, although I will be careful. I am going to take today off because I don’t want to be out in the storms, and tomorrow off because it’s election day. Tomorrow night I plan on having one channel with election results on the TV, a second streaming on my iPad, and a third streaming on my phone. Weather and health permitting, I will probably be out a bit Wednesday.
Thanks to those who have helped me when I needed it, and those who have messaged me to check in on me and offer help if I need anything. I love and miss my Downtown family and hope to see you soon.
That’s what’s going on with me. Just wanted to give an update because I know people have been wondering. I hope to be back later today with a news post.